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Tue 5 Nov, 2013 01:48 am
Dolphins ban Incognito for threats, racist slurs against teammate
By Bart Hubbuch
November 4, 2013 | 9:28am
Richie Incognito (68) was suspended indefinitely by the Miami Dolphins over bullying charges.
Richie Incognito’s career in Miami is over and his NFL career in general could soon suffer the same fate after ugly details of his bullying of teammate Jonathan Martin emerged Monday.
In a fast-moving series of events, Incognito was suspended indefinitely by the Dolphins late Sunday night and then told he would never play for them again Monday morning after Martin gave the NFL copies of profane and racist text messages and voice mails Incognito had sent him last April.
Martin, a second-year offensive tackle, abruptly left the team last week because of what he said was relentless bullying from Incognito, who has long been known as one of the NFL’s dirtiest and most unpopular players.
According to the transcript of a voice mail Incognito left last spring that was obtained by ESPN, Incognito tried to humiliate Martin with racial epithets and vile sexual references.
“Hey, wassup, you half n—– piece of s—,” Incognito told Martin. “I saw you on Twitter, you been training 10 weeks. [I want to] s— in your f—ing mouth. [I’m going to] slap your f—ing mouth. [I’m going to] slap your real mother across the face. F— you, you’re still a rookie. I’ll kill you.”
Incognito is expected to vigorously defend himself against the suspension and fight any attempts to be released, according to a league source, but the Dolphins have decided to move on.
Though several of Incognito’s teammates on the Dolphins came to his defense after practice Monday, the 31-year-old lineman was roundly condemned by players on other teams and former players.
Retired Jets linebacker Bart Scott blistered Incognito in an interview with ESPN’s New York City affiliate Monday, revealing he took a swing at Incognito after a game as a member of the Ravens because of the lineman’s awful behavior.
Scott implied Incognito uses steroids and called him “a fake tough guy” who was “one of the dirtiest — if not the dirtiest — player I’ve ever played against.”
“[When I played him while I was] on the Ravens, I just couldn’t take it anymore,” Scott told the station. “After the game, he tried to shake my hand and I swung at him and he ran like the coward that he really is. … Like most bullies are when confronted by a real man, he didn’t want no parts of it.”
But several of Incognito’s teammates on the Dolphins defended him, with wide receiver Mike Wallace telling Miami reporters: “I love Richie.”
“I think he’s a great guy,” Wallace added.
Miami cornerback Will Davis agreed with Wallace, then took it a step further by calling Incognito one of the most popular players in the entire locker room — a claim backed up by Incognito’s membership on the Dolphins’ six-player “leadership council” that is selected by a locker-room vote.
“Richie’s a funny guy,” Davis told reporters. “Everybody loves him.”
Dolphins coach Joe Philbin was on the defensive Monday in his first press conference since Incognito’s belated suspension was announced, and he deferred most questions to the NFL’s ongoing investigation.
Philbin, who is in his second season, declined comment when asked specifically if he was aware of the extent of Incognito’s bullying before Martin turned over the texts and voice mails Monday.
“I will tell you that if the [NFL’s] review shows that this is not a safe atmosphere, I will take whatever measures are necessary to ensure that it is,” Philbin said. “I have that obligation to the players that I coach on a daily basis.”
Martin had told the Dolphins he doesn’t plan to return as long as Incognito is still on the team.
Incognito has been a problem child throughout his college and pro careers, getting kicked out of Nebraska and Oregon for numerous anger-related incidents before the Rams drafted him in the third round in 2005.
Incognito blossomed into Pro Bowl starter in St. Louis but incurred nearly $100,000 in NFL fines for dirty play and was eventually released in 2009 after head-butting two Titans players in a game and then fighting on the sidelines with then-coach Steve Spagnuolo.
Incognito was thought to have turned his life and career around in Miami, drawing just one league fine in three-plus seasons ($10,000 for a late hit) and getting voted to the team’s leadership council.
But an NFC general manager told The Post on Monday Incognito will have a difficult time catching on elsewhere if the details of his bullying of Martin are confirmed.
“I think he’s done — period,” the executive said. “That’s some really ugly stuff [in the transcripts]. He’s just not worth the trouble.”
NYPost.com
@Miller,
He seems to be
sick in the head; even worse than JTT.
Thay r going to put him on Ignore.
@OmSigDAVID,
His weight of more than 300 pounds suggests to me that they should put him on a diet.
@Miller,
Miller wrote:His weight of more than 300 pounds
suggests to me that they should put him on a diet.
Is that cruel & unusual punishment ?
@OmSigDAVID,
I see him as a sociopthic nut who will descend into further madness and will, you watch, take up a weapon and kill someone . Hes a scary **** who needs to be given a lobotomy
@farmerman,
he claims the team asked him to toughen the rookie up, but he took it too far.
i agree he's a nutcase -- a big dangerous scary nutcase on 'roids...
@Region Philbis,
I was gonna comment on his Neanderthal brow. I was guessing that he was a juicer
@farmerman,
farmerman wrote:I see him as a sociopthic nut who will descend into further madness and will,
you watch, take up a weapon and kill someone.
I 'll
not dispute u, farmer.
His hands might well be weapons, depending upon whom
and how thay r used.
What he did was both the product of mental ill health and it was
stupid
to
disgrace himself like that. I infer that he carries around a lot of
inner rage.
He sprung a leak on this victim.
farmerman wrote:Hes a scary **** who needs to be given a lobotomy
That 's a different controversy,
but I can see it as his
genuine need (like food)
in the sense that if he does not get successfully cured,
then he might well get defensively killed by his next victim, if he is sufficiently well armed.
I 'm sure glad that he did not use any guns.
David
@Region Philbis,
Region Philbis wrote:he claims the team asked him to toughen the rookie up, but he took it too far.
That 's
implausible (as if his threats 'd make the victim win more ball games),
but even if it were
true, its not exculpatory.
@Region Philbis,
Hes gonna have a few bad work days coming up. Is he married?
@farmerman,
farmerman wrote:Hes gonna have a few bad work days coming up. Is he married?
Working ?
I thawt he was suspended from work.
@OmSigDAVID,
OmSigDAVID wrote:
I thawt he was suspended from work.
He was suspended from work and now the whole world will know him as the "rain maker".
@Region Philbis,
Martin was never a US Marine...
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